tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-224910792018-03-17T15:35:44.992+11:00Pickle-osophy'I think it is of Thee the sparrows sing' - Oscar WildeLynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.comBlogger1016125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-27987968773643136252018-03-17T15:35:00.005+11:002018-03-17T15:35:45.105+11:00The World Turned Upside Down<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How little we understood at the time! We loved him, as far as we were able in the smallness of our understanding, he touched places inside us that no one else had ever touched, and there was the tang of deep truth and wisdom in everything he said. But half the time (alright, to some extent most of the time) we simply didn’t have a clue what he really meant. Every time he turned our world upside down, we tried, with ridiculous futility, to turn it back the proper way and then figure out where his words fitted in. I still remember the look in his eyes when we missed the whole point yet again and again and again. But he never gave up on us, and showed us that God is patient with us beyond our wildest dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And this, of course, was the most topsy-turvy night of all, and I am still moved beyond tears when I remember any detail of it. It was the night that began with God kneeling at our feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was Passover, and we were there in an upper room in Jerusalem. The food and wine were on the table, and we had begun the familiar ritual, the recalling of God’s great act of liberation, when Jesus rose from the table and took off his outer garment. He had our complete attention, but none of us were prepared for what happened next. He tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and commenced to work his way around the table, washing our feet – the job normally allotted to the lowliest servant, a slave’s job really. And he was the master! We should have been washing his feet, not the other way round! (So why didn’t we? That question was to haunt me for a long time afterwards, because I already knew the shameful answer. We were far too concerned with trying to score points in some obscure competition to prove which of us was the greatest. None of was willing to demean ourselves. But he, who was our Lord and our God, had no hesitation at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were embarrassed, no, ashamed. With one simple action he was laying bare the hidden places of our hearts. Of course, I had to be the one to put it into words, to cry out, in the arrogance I mistook for humility, “Lord, you shall never wash my feet!” But when he told me that I had no share in him if I did not let him wash me, I backed down, extravagantly demanding that he wash my hands and my head as well! When would I learn to simply obey, to know that what he gave was just exactly right?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I understand now, as much as I can while I walk this earth, and, yes, I weep with the wonder of it. Yes, he meant us to learn servanthood from his example, and that is true forever, but there was something even more. We had to humble ourselves to accept his gift, we had to be prepared to accept the cleansing he would bring us by humbling himself beyond even servanthood, becoming nothing and dying, in our place, as an outcast and a criminal. We are the servants of God, and the servants of one another, because God himself first became the servant of us, and truly turned the whole world upside down.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-8853966467012258492018-03-12T16:56:00.004+11:002018-03-12T19:07:35.731+11:00Befriending Job<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the places grief has hollowed out<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We will tread with silent reverence<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For God has been here first.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We will shed tears unashamed, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For all buried seeds need water.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the divine devising<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The tomb and the womb are one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wait, wait for the promise!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We shall not deploy the pebbles<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of our well-digested clichés<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lest we insult the truth<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With our shallow, easy words;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lest we deny the dignity<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That every sufferer bears;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lest our mouths should drip futility<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And blaspheme the name of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Learn to stand in the silence!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us own only one small arc<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of the terrible path of justice<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is shown in this world<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And we cannot see the whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All that we know<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Is the one who stood at the brink,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hands scarred and bleeding,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And bent back its shape to mercy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Be still in his presence!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And, till the dawn shall break,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Weep with those who weep …<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-40495297238674086662018-03-08T11:05:00.000+11:002018-03-08T11:05:45.896+11:00Resistance<i>An attempt to use the French resistance in WWII as a metaphor for resisting temptation</i><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Evil strums in the blood</span><br /><span style="font-size: 13pt;">It stalks the streets,</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Beats down defences with its banal face<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Becomes our ordinary<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just a shrug<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The simple act of look the other way<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The simple act of grabbing what you can.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is always a reason<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For the dumb collaboration of the weary heart,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The weak one step too far.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is another way, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Gritty, alone,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Compelled by love,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The courage that is born<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From deeper fears:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The life that dares to live.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here, beating hearts<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Acknowledge both the terror and the stakes,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And calculate<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The worth that’s past all price,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The love that makes all other loves look pale.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blazing against the ancient lie that says<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a middle ground,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A compromise,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Between two kingdoms utterly opposed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-21160673453706933662018-03-03T11:47:00.002+11:002018-03-03T11:47:14.723+11:00The Test<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He never did enjoy that steep, uphill climb from Jericho back to Jerusalem. But sometimes a man just has make the journey and attend to his affairs. It wasn’t really a choice for anyone who valued wealth and status. So he had spent a couple of days down in Jericho, doing what had to be done, and now it was time to make the journey back. He would make an early start, it was going to be hot today, and besides, he had overheard a Samaritan merchant in the inn talking about moving on to Jerusalem tomorrow, and he didn’t want to be stuck anywhere near him! The man was everything he most despised: a mongrel Jew who would claim to be an heir of Abraham despite his mixed race, a despiser of the true Temple (the Samaritans had their own centre of worship), an offender against all that was most holy, against all that gave his own life, as a priest, meaning and purpose. He shuddered, realising that he hated the Samaritans even more than the Romans.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And so he set off, pondering why God allowed both the Romans and the Samaritans to continue in existence. Surely it was time for the Messiah to come? And if He delayed, was that because Israel was falling short of keeping every syllable of the law?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He had been going for three or four hours when he saw what looked like a heap of rags lying by the side of the road. As he drew closer, he realised that it was a man, badly beaten, with torn clothes and crusted blood. Not a pretty sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Despite the heat, he drew his cloak around himself tightly, a reflexive gesture of self-protection. The bandits must be active around here, he thought to himself. The Romans did patrol the road (yes, they were definitely not as bad as the Samaritans), but in those steep and rocky cliffs were a labyrinth of caves where those who knew their way could escape pursuit, and where Roman armour was a disadvantage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Momentarily he wondered if he should help the traveller, but then he shook his head, disappointed in himself for ever considering such a silly, sentimental idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There were robbers around, this was not a place where it was safe to linger. And there was always the possibility that the man was not hurt at all, but merely faking it as a bait to lure other travellers, and went they bent down to assist him he would leap up and grab them while other robbers swarmed out from their hiding place to attack them. Definitely this wasn’t a safe place. Besides, and this was another thought, if the man was a genuine victim, he might be dead, and touching a dead body was a source of ritual uncleanness. Much better, much safer, to hurry on and pretend he’d never seen him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He did not know that he had failed the test. He did not know that love was the fulfilment of the law. He did not know that the despised Samaritan, coming along later, would do everything he had failed to do, and more. He did not know that it was the Samaritan, and not himself, a priest of Israel, who would be commended by God himself. He returned to his barren piety, his pettifogging rules, and never guessed that even then the longed for Messiah, Saviour of Jew and Gentile alike, was walking in their midst, the glory of God in human flesh.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-44668100946093820502018-02-21T15:46:00.000+11:002018-02-21T15:46:05.721+11:00Palm Branch<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I am a palm branch lifted<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I am a palm branch laid<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Down on the stones of the city,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Dusty and sore afraid<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Oh how the triumph chorus<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Swells in my heart and soul:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Longing for final victory<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Longing to be made whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Anticipation shivers<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Here comes the Saviour king<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Jerusalem is thrilling<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Her loudest praise to sing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Yet soon the songs grow silent<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Under a darkening sky<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">All the hosannas falter<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">This king has come to die.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Palm branches lie forgotten<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Soon to be swept away<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Only the broken pieces<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Torn and dismembered, stay.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Soon are the streets re-crowded,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Soon comes another cry:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">No more resounds “Hosanna!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Now it is “Crucify!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Only the crushed and broken<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Recognise such a king,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Walk through the nights of terror <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">To see what day will bring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Waiting the tender promise<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Of resurrection morn<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">It is death and darkness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Our one real hope is born.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I am a palm branch laid down<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Under a donkey’s feet<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Knowing that in his mercy<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I shall be made complete.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-13343973255969254462018-02-19T16:40:00.000+11:002018-02-19T16:40:02.498+11:00Reluctance<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Obedience isn’t easy. Sometimes it goes with the flow of things, or the exaltation that comes with bone-deep certainty. But other times it cuts against the grain of a person’s soul, scraping it raw like the rough stone of reality pushed up hard against it, stabbing it deep like the surgeon’s knife that must still remove the deadly tumour whether there is pain relief or not. But the one who steps forward, in and through that pain, finds such a glory of love on the other side that the light flows in them and through them, down to us on the far side of the years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Picture a man, grey with the terrible burden of hope deferred, walking heavily up the mountain with a young lad by his side, carrying alone the terrible knowledge that the life of this long-promised child is required of him. He does not yet know that the angel of the Lord shall halt the proceedings, or that the ram caught in the thicket shall die in the child’s stead, a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God who will one day die for all, but he walks wearily up the hill. For how can he say no to such a God, even when his heart is breaking?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Moving forward in time, picture another man, barefoot in the desert because he has been ordered to take off his shoes on holy ground. He stands before the bush that burns but is not consumed, questioning the command he has been given by the transcendent God who meets him there. Who is he, a long time fugitive from Egypt, to appear before the throne of Pharaoh and request that the slave race should be set free? He is no silver-tongued orator to sway the heart of such a monarch, he is a man who failed before, and has eked out his years as a shepherd in the wilderness. Can’t God find somebody more suitable? Nevertheless he goes, empowered to do more than he<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>can dream or imagine, and history is changed and God is revealed as the Redeemer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And here is another man centuries later, rubbing his eyes as he wakes from a strange vision. Why would God be asking him to break the Law and eat what is unclean? Then the meaning is revealed: God’s salvation is not just for an elite, nor race, nor gender, nor social caste can bar anybody from God’s great salvation, and thus he goes to the home of the gentile, where the Law had said he should not go, for now a greater than the Law had come, and in fulfilling the Law had stepped beyond it, and mercy was triumphant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For there is one other man we must picture, whose terrible obedience gives the reason and the meaning to these others. For he kneels alone in an olive garden, in the bitterest hour of the night, and the sweat of his anguish falls from him like great drops of blood as he cries out in his agony, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done!” And beyond that choice lies public humiliation, gross injustice, excruciating pain and the desolation of God’s rejection. He is embracing death in its undiluted horror. But beyond those again lies wonder and glory and life and the redemption of the world. His love, his choice, his death, his resurrection give meaning and glory to every other hard choice which faith must make.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-38021879664497968172018-02-14T08:58:00.002+11:002018-02-14T08:59:06.392+11:00Remember oh man ...<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Dust.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The gritty taste,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Choking,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Dry as death,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The least of things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The parched and silent place,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Hope pulverised.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">All things we hold<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Come down to this<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Blown from our fingers<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">By relentless wind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Even tears<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Evaporate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And dry lips stick together<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Without sound.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And this we must remember,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">This,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Hold close:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The agony of emptiness,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The cruel breath of the grave,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The swiftness of forgetting,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The long undoing of the very self.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">All that there is <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Resounding<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In the dust-dry deserts of our night.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Remember too<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">This death leads on to Life<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-35522380458970729022018-02-13T09:46:00.003+11:002018-02-13T09:47:00.481+11:00Three Gardens for Ash Wednesday<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Here in the garden<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The place man meets with God,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Where the trees hang heavy with destiny,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The birds are silent with wonder,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And the little creatures come, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Bringing peace,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And the truth is not evaded.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Two trees:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">What are two among so many,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In the place God walks with man?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In the dew-clad silence,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Heavy with fruit-scent,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Where the serpent flaunts,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Creation waits<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Breathless,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">For the wrong choice to be made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And a river of tears flows forth to flood the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The silent bells toll out man’s dreadful doom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Another garden,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Gloomed with twisted olives,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Many trees to shelter<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The man who’ll hang on one,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Writhing in such prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The little creatures wait,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Deep in the silent shadows.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Watching the breathless moment<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">When love embraces death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The hushed bells whisper of man’s dawning hope<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Only one tree<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In that final garden<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Where all the trees are one, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Where blood is wine,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Life unquenchable flows,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The very leaves<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Are healing for the world; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Here bride and bridegroom walk<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In wondering joy<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And bells and trumpets ring man’s hope fulfilled.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-36218402832263135072018-02-09T09:25:00.000+11:002018-02-09T09:25:09.927+11:00Looking Back (WWI)<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much is washed away:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A century of pain<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Has buried all who knew,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And made things new again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much remains, remains:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A century of woe<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Has woven in the stains<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Wherever stories go.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much is overgrown:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A century of grass<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Covers the shattered bones<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Under the feet that pass.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much is told, is told:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A century of books<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Sifts and then relegates<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">To where man overlooks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much we know in part:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A century of blood<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Drowning the human heart<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Crushing our cry for God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much we can’t escape:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A weary century<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Echoes the same old strains<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Repeating endlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-14960469871319339462018-02-08T14:08:00.003+11:002018-02-08T14:08:46.817+11:00The Woman in the Background in the MovieIn the grey light of winter,<br />There on the city street<br />The people go their several ways<br />With dreary, dragging feet.<br /><br />And there, soft in the background,<br />She waits against a wall,<br />Her face looks out across the crowd<br />and wears no fear at all.<br /><br />Her face folds like a flower<br />That waits the kiss of sun,<br />Yet turns in hope towards the sky<br />When sunshine there is none.<br /><br />The young they nerve their courage<br />To battle with their fears;<br />But she has walked much longer<br />And left behind her tears.<br /><br />There, in the rush of evening,<br />While others chase release,<br />She leans against a pillar<br />Enfolded in her peace.<br /><br />The clouds of war will gather,<br />The rain of bombs begin,<br />But, steadfast in the darkness,<br />She bears her light within.Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-61358255488532401682018-02-06T14:08:00.003+11:002018-02-06T14:08:53.243+11:00Untold<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">So much gets locked away:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Things the flesh cannot say,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Dreams of the night and day,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Thoughts that no longer stay,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Feelings that won’t obey,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Questions that twist and sway,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Music that lost its way.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Nobody can express<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">All the ways hearts digress:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Places we cannot guess,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Dreams that we must compress,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Thoughts that we carefully dress,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Hiding the wildering mess,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Yet longing to possess<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Maps of its vast largesse.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Something akin to shame<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Hides what we cannot name,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Thinking we’re all the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Yet what we cannot tame<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Burns like a hidden flame,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And, though we would disclaim,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Fearing ourselves to blame,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Is where the wonder came.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Thus we walk into light<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Fearing to bring to sight<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">What we glimpsed in the night<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Straitened to set aright<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">What is our secret fright<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Yet in our fear’s despite,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Hesitant and contrite,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The Knower sets us right.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-76917059392626436172018-02-03T11:08:00.004+11:002018-02-03T11:08:53.294+11:00The Faithful One<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He stood there and watched the daylight turn to darkness in the middle of the day. It was a fearful thing, but he hardly noticed. His heart was already shredded, the light was already going out, and darkness seemed only fitting. At least there was no sparkling sunlight or laughing breeze to mock his grief. There was mockery enough from the lips of those who had gathered round the foot of the cross to rejoice in his Master’s death. “You saved others, but you can’t save yourself!” (said in a tone of such superiority and cool sarcasm that it made the bones of his skull grate with tension) was probably the least and kindest thing that came from their mouths. And these were supposed to be the religious leaders of Israel! How could he ever respect them after this? They were as deaf and blind as the ears of corn that would soon be waving in the fields. Jesus had healed the sick, fed the hungry and made the blind to see; and their response was to rejoice in his agony.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He tried to shut out their voices as he stood there with the women. Those mocking jeers were like the braying of a thousand devils, and yet, he had never noticed before how terribly monotonous cruelty actually was. It could inflict, cast down and destroy, but it could not build up or create. Somehow that was a thread of comfort, even in so great a desolation. They could take away his Master, but they could never take away what his Master had said and done, they could never take away his kindness, his wisdom, his single-minded courage. Above all, they could never take away his love, or the answering love in John’s heart. But they had taken away his Master, and right now John was not sure he could ever forgive them for that. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But what was this? Jesus was speaking. It cost him so much torment to turn breath into words, so every word was infinitely precious. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And, once again, he turned John’s heart inside out. Ho could … No, stop right there. He could, and he did. There had never been any difference between Jesus’ teachings and his actions. It was one of the things that set him so apart from everyone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He noticed Jesus’ mother staggering under the pain, and put a supportive arm around her. Then he looked up and saw that Jesus was looking straight at them. And, again, he spoke: “Woman, this is your son,” he said to Mary, then, with effort, he moved his eyes to John. “This is your mother,” he said. In spite of everything, John lifted his chin a little. If this was the Master’s last command to him, he would give his whole self to honouring it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And the dreary hours of his desolation passed, until, with a loud cry, Jesus said “It is finished!” What was finished? For John it seemed like the whole world was finished and done for. Yet he could not surrender totally to his pain. He had a reason to keep going, he had Mary to care for.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He did not know how short a time it would be until his world began again; that on Sunday morning the whole world would begin again, transformed forever, and that he would be among the first to witness the truth. For now he must walk through the darkness, and wait …<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-17009054870697862592018-01-15T15:08:00.002+11:002018-01-15T15:08:48.088+11:00Through the years ...<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The old man stood up before the people for the very last time, and looked at their upturned faces. They all seemed so very young; the doubters and refusers, the ones who thought like slaves and had no faith or courage were gone now, and the time of their wandering was drawing to an end. Soon now they would be entering the land promised to Abraham, the land flowing with milk and honey, but he would not be among them. It was almost time to climb his last mountain, to be done with the problems and pains of this world and enter into God’s rest. This was his last time to speak to their hearts and awaken them to the wonder of the God who held them in the hollow of his hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He began by reminding them of their history. God had redeemed them from the land of slavery and brought them to an appointed meeting with himself at Sinai, where he had entered into covenant with them. He would be their God and they would be his people: a nation of priests and a holy nation. But how quickly they had rebelled against the very one who saved them. Given the chance to enter the land of promise, they had refused from fear. Did they who had walked through the parted waters and escaped the wrath of Egypt not believe that the same God could give them victory over Canaan? So began their wandering years, homeless and stateless, yet still God held them fast.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Look at the evidence:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years, God had given them victory over the nations that took up arms against them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years, neither God’s commandments nor his covenant had changed. He was the same God, all-powerful and all-holy, and he was still calling them into relationship with himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years he had still poured out on them the blessings promised to Abraham, and they had flourished and increased until their numbers were like the stars in the sky or the grains of the sand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years he led them safely through the harshness of the empty lands.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years he fed them with the miraculous bread from heaven, and taught them that man’s truest hunger is for the very words of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years (all those years!) their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell from walking.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Through the years he had kept them and blessed them, but would they forget the God of their fathers when they were settled and comfortable like all the other nations?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He looked out across them earnestly and prayed that his words would impress them enough to keep them following and worshipping aright. He would give the law again to this new generation, but first there was one thing he really wanted to make clear. How terrible it would be if they thought it was their own greatness that had got them there!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“God did not set his affection upon you because you were such a great people. You were the least. No, it was because the Lord loved you, and because he made a promise to your forefathers, that he is bringing you to the place of abundance.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He hoped that some of them would truly understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-35783832071888292862018-01-12T16:18:00.004+11:002018-01-12T16:19:00.171+11:00Anniversary<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let me place this ring of stars<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">On the finger of your soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let me show you the moon tonight,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Soft in its silver promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let us laugh together<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">With the little lapping waves<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Rejoicing in our smallness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let us trace the path of our years across the sky<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Through light and darkness,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The relentless pull of entropy,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And the pinpricks that unsettle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let us refuse to be afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let us ache for the loneliness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">That is part of all things human,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Then reach out and touch<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Until the divisive galaxies are nothing,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Nothing more,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Than the cobblestones our love must walk across.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let us taste our names again<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In each other’s mouths<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Remembering<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The centuries of kindness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">That have woven us together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Because our hope<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Has always been<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">So far beyond ourselves.</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-55682244551914037532018-01-04T21:30:00.003+11:002018-01-04T21:30:56.390+11:00Cry out oh dust!<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Take up your cry, oh dust!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Cry to the sky!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Wonder must be, must be,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Nought can belie.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Let no dust silent lie!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Praise him you winds that ruffle meadows,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Praise!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Breath, breeze and hurricane<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">A chorus raise.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Sing out the glory that his touch displays!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Sing waters, sing for joy,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Each ripple sing!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Waves of the winding world<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Rejoicing ring<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Life-giving presence, touching everything!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Delight yourselves, oh flowers,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Take delight!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Passing through bitter winter,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Darkest night,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Grace blossoms in plain sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Stars, planets, dance in orbit:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Dance, oh, dance!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">In all your ordered movements show<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">The great romance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Nothing became by chance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Oh heart bow down in worship, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Kneel, oh, kneel,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">His praise your heart your joy,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">All that you feel, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Given to him, his mercy to reveal!<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-28436605909908023182018-01-02T16:02:00.001+11:002018-01-02T16:02:22.221+11:00The Man in the Middle<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I was not prepared for this, but then, when I think it over, what could have been done to prepare me? There is no course of study at the synagogue, no training in advanced theology or worldly know-how that could have prepared me, simply because I am, in all the history that I know, the only man ever in all the world to be required to take on this task. There was nobody who could have advised me or mentored me through this. It was my love for Mary, and her need of me, that kept me going through the worst moments of bewilderment and confusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I am the most ordinary of men, a carpenter with just the basic education that all Jewish men have. I can read and write, I know enough about numbers to calculate how much wood I need for a task and how much to charge for my labour (though if someone is poor and desperate I will always charge them less).&nbsp; I know the Law of Moses about as well as most men of my social class, but I don’t pretend to understand some of the things that the lawyers argue about. Surely if god means ordinary people to obey him then he tells them what is required in ordinary words, not secret meanings hidden behind and between the things he actually said? But what do I know? I am a plain man who planes wood for a living, who tries to honour God in everyday things and do justly to my fellow man. And I fell in love with a young woman named Mary, whose wise eyes and soft smile turned my whole life inside out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">It was a terrible shock when she told me she was with child, for I knew the child wasn’t mine. The kindest thing I could think was that too much dreaming had made her mad, and some passing stranger had taken advantage of her state. But there was no sign of madness in her steady gaze or her simple words, and I was very much confused.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">And I was not prepared to deal with angels. That is a matter for great heroes, not Joseph ben Jacob from the forgettable town of Nazareth. Yet in a vision of the night, clear and powerful like no ordinary dream could ever be, the angel of the Lord came to me and confirmed every word that Mary had spoken. This was no ordinary child, this was the Messiah of God, begotten by a miracle I cannot understand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">I am not sure what I was thinking in the daze of those months, as I quietly married Mary and organised that crazy, gruelling trip to Bethlehem, just doing what I must, one foot in front of the other, but not coming to her as a husband comes to a wife, for until the child was delivered, her body was a sacred vessel, dedicated to the service of God. But I think that I half-expected the child to spring from her body like an armed warrior ready for battle. How little I knew, how little I understood. Day after day I cried out to God to relieve me of this heavy task, and day after day he reminded me that I was the only man who could do it, for I was the man who loved Mary, and guarded her child. It was enough, more than enough. I will leave the great heroic deeds to other people, and simply go on loving Mary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-83648556581543847922017-12-29T14:26:00.001+11:002017-12-29T14:26:37.722+11:00Geographer's Lament<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I cannot count the countries of the world<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shifting and changing in political tornadoes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nations come and go in bewildering procession<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And the map is not the one I learned at school.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nor can I count the inner countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The heart’s geography erodes,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Solidifies,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And endures the occasional tsunami.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rivers of tears have watered my deserts,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And turned them to fecundity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here and there lie peninsulas<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Which refuse to submit to boundaries,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(And fences have a way of breaking down).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unexplored islands lie in raging seas<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Awaiting the halcyon days<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Or so I think, or well, at least suspect).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have built the occasional bridge,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have weathered seasons,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even climbed some hills, for a clearer view.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But even if I know their shapes,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I hardly know their names;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And the lingering fear is still:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Have I got it wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then I remember<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was always better at History.</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-9547874202779271292017-12-28T19:25:00.001+11:002017-12-28T19:25:44.381+11:00Rembrandt's Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here is no thunder of the lawyer’s stance<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is not doctrine bound in bone and blood<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a man torn from his chosen path<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a man undone by his own God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spirit shine forth! See, through an old man’s eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That his own weakness is Your strength sublime;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The fellowship of suffering opens joy,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And our mortality’s the fool of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The man who nails his heart to Christ’s own cross<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Needs no more pride, needs not the praise of man;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is enough to know that he is safe<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Held fast forever in God’s nail-pierced hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is enough to know that God is God<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And Jesus, crucified, now reigns above,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Enough to rest on faith, to rest on hope<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And know the greatest of all things is love</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-11441481002275929812017-12-27T21:54:00.003+11:002017-12-27T21:54:50.975+11:00Alien Music<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I do not know the sweet songs of these people<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or the sharp songs<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Beating to a harder rhythm<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To scour the soul with anger’s oblivion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have not grieved their griefs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have not moved my feet<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To the beat<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Staccato and inverted <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then turned right way up<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A moment, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then to plunge to places<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I cannot follow<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By body or by mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The things that soothe them<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do not sustain me,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I find no comfort there,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having already more than in their wildest dreams,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Their dreams cut like my nightmares,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have not walked that country of small hopes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The things that whisper<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my deepest night<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cannot speak their language,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shamed by my own plenty,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I learn at last to weep.</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-29494411323110455202017-12-17T16:21:00.002+11:002017-12-17T16:21:31.433+11:00The Man who Waited<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For years, whenever I walked the streets of Jerusalem, it was like walking through the darkest places in the human heart. Every sorry folly of our history, every temptation of our sorry hearts, was there, written large, for whoever had eyes to see them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Religious pride and self-righteousness? Have you ever seen a Pharisee strut his way through the crowds, eyes apparently raised or lowered in holy contemplation, but actually darting furtively from side to side in holy contemplation?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The love of power? Well, the priestly caste were doing a good job of that. Not all of them, of course, some were awed to be serving their God, but too many, especially those in the inner cabal of the temple, had politicised the role of the priesthood, wanting to scrabble for whatever power and position they could maintain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Greed? Well, it was everywhere, from the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the overpricing of the sacrificial lambs, through to the haggling in the marketplace and the blatant lust for gain that shone in the eyes of the tax collectors as they plied their extortionate trade.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And cruelty and violence were everywhere, from the zealots to the Roman soldiers, always seething just below the apparent civility of daily life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And I do not even speak of the lusts that flourish in the shadows, but I have seen women used and abandoned, children who begged for bread, and many who lived the careful lives of the fearful. There were some who despised the Gentiles without loving the God who had called them to be separate, and others who ran to be accepted by the Gentiles and aped their ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And my heart grieved. I walked the streets of Jerusalem, and I prayed that God would have mercy on His wayward people, and I yearned for the coming of the Promised One. Then, one day, God told me a remarkable thing. He told me that I would not die until I had seen, with my own eyes, the Messiah come in the flesh.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I waited. The years passed, and wickedness seemed to abound more and more as my eyes learned wisdom. But I also learned another wisdom: that sin is not confined to those people over there, it lies there, coiled in my own heart too, in every heart, like poison in the bottom of the well that sickens us even while the water keeps us alive.&nbsp; And I wept, and I wondered and I waited, and the long years passed, until I realised that I had outlived the normal span, and my body was growing weary of this mortal world, and still I waited.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And then, one day, one ordinary day, they came. No angels blew trumpets, and the crowds in the Temple were oblivious, but I knew. God’s promised was fulfilled. And I could die in peace. But the way ahead for these parents, this child, would not be easy and triumphant. For when I saw him, this small, helpless child, the Eternal Beloved, I understood that the true restoration of Israel was the restoration of humanity. The triumphant king would first be the sacrificial lamb, and he would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And I blessed him, who is, himself, the source of every blessing.</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-64947126417385865382017-12-07T15:41:00.003+11:002017-12-07T21:32:34.024+11:00Questions for Mary<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Where were you when the angel came<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On an ordinary day<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In a town of no reputation?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Surely you were alone <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In that all-shattering moment,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the house? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the field?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By the well?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What were you thinking<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When your world turned inside out?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And did those thoughts return?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And how do angels come:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With great beating wings<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of terror?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or quietly walking<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As if they were always there?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or simply present<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like a sunbeam’s touch on your face?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Can you look in their eyes?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or does their merest glance<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cover the whirling galaxies<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And the steeped up slopes of time?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And which was harder,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Telling others,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Or believing it yourself?</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-36455626154040152942017-12-02T15:29:00.002+11:002017-12-02T15:29:55.051+11:00The Slave<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now I know what a fool I was. How could I have been so stupid? But in a world where you have nothing, you take what you can get; in a world where you have no life, no choices of your own you don’t plan ahead (what plans can you make when your master or mistress can destroy them on a moment’s whim?). You never think about the big picture, for there is no consolation there, where there is no hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It all began (from my point of view) when the master took me to his bed – not exactly an unheard of fate for a slave, but it had never happened before in this household. Of course, nobody asked me if I wanted to, slaves don’t have the right to say yes or no to whatever is asked of them, and, let’s be honest, high-born women rarely have the right either, though they generally get some tokens of respect. But at least the old man was kind to me, and I was very thankful for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But then I became pregnant, and I became overjoyed. I might be only a slave, and my mistress a high-born free woman, but I had achieved something that she had never managed in all her years. I was bearing the master’s son, his only son! (I never doubted it would be a boy) Is it any wonder that I went a little crazy? Such fantasies I had of supplanting my mistress (who, after all was old and barren) and becoming my master’s new wife, his favourite wife. Then that spiteful old woman wouldn’t be able to order me around anymore, and I would put her in her place. I had miscalculated badly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course Sarai saw my attitude and guessed what I was thinking. She could not endure it, what woman could in this insecure world we live in, where our lives are totally dependent on our usefulness to the men we belong to? She, in turn, became so bitter towards me, so cruel, that I fled from her in terror.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was then that the miracle happened. There I was, alone in the world, resting by the spring with no idea where to go or how to find safety, when the glorious messenger of God appeared – to me, a slave! What sort of God cares about slaves? What sort of God would deign to notice someone like me, let alone stoop down to speak to them? He gave me promises for my son, promises I can scarcely understand, but how can I doubt his word? And he bade me return to my mistress and humble myself before her, and so I did, and all was well again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But I will never be the same, for I have met with the God who sees, and I know that he sees all things even into the hearts of the least of us. And, despite all the pride and folly of our hearts, he does not despise us, but deals with us tenderly. And I wonder, as I carry my son, my miracle, my Ishmael, how is it that God in heaven understands how it feels to be a slave, a nobody, a nothing? Something tugs at my imagination, could God himself become a nobody? But I shy away from the thought, such a thing would turn the whole world upside down.</span></div>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-81252759857910632632017-11-22T13:22:00.000+11:002017-11-22T13:22:37.268+11:00The Defenders of Abuse<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They sit in their cold, careful castles,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The men to whom life was so kind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Believing that clean reputations<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are kept by the deaf and blind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The grubby, pathetic and scrubby<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are whitewashed with such careful paint,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And when someone says that it’s happening,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They reply, right on cue, “No, it ain’t.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In love with their great institutions,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In love with their bright golden thrones,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They polish their canopies’ framework, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Gold varnish placed on dead men’s bones,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They practise their eloquent phrases,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So musical to their own ears,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And wash their hands clean from the problem<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In a bowl of the victims’ salt tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Themselves are the true persecuted,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So runs their mellifluous song;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“What a shame that these people are bitter,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What a pity that they are so wrong!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How hollow their words are to history,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Where self-defence brays like an ass,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And the more that they measure each sentence,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The more they sound heartless and crass!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The angels come down from the heavens<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To stand with the broken of earth,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They lift them with infinite mercy<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And give their cause measureless worth.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But those who have trampled the hurt ones<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To build their own temple of pride,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are those who blaspheme what is holy,<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">God’s love for each terrorised child.</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-7136404277048290772017-11-21T12:43:00.003+11:002017-11-21T12:43:49.806+11:00The Defeat<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and eat<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and drink<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember …<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who lost everything<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who had nowhere to lay his head, unless a friend invited him in<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man that the crowds gave up on when he told them hard truths they didn’t want to hear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man whose own friend betrayed him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man whose friends slept uncaring while he writhed in agony of soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who lived and walked and talked with his little group of followers for three years, and then they looked at him blankly when he tried to explain the whole point.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man whose friends gladly ate the bread of heaven, but ran away when the bread was broken.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and eat<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and drink<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man, the innocent man, who was arrested at night by rough soldiers, taken to a farcical trial where false witnesses swore evidence against him, and condemned to death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who was cruelly flogged by jeering soldiers who thought that mocking his kingship and ridiculing his dignity was the most fun they’d had all week.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who had to carry the unbearable weight of his cross (and ours) to the place of execution, until he fell beneath its weight, doewn in the dust of the road, and couldn’t get up again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who had nails hammered through his living flesh, and then was strung up naked, so the world could laugh at his helplessness while he slowly suffocated in agonising pain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and eat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and drink.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who did not even have the light of day to give him courage while he was dying.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man whose friends deserted him and denied him in fear, while his enemies triumphed in unholy joy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember the man who was hastily buried in a borrowed tomb, because he still had nowhere on earth to call his own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember that defeat doesn’t get more absolute than this.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But then<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember that he rose again, overcoming death forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember that he has secured life forever, life in all its fullness, for those that put their trust in him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember that sin and death and hell, and all the thorns, and pains and brokenness of the curse are vanquished forever by him, and trampled underfoot.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember that he sits at the Father’s right hand and holds the scroll of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember that he shall come again in glory to rule over all things, our King, our Judge, our, Saviour.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and eat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take and drink<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And remember that he did it all for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22491079.post-42264935058399391392017-11-17T17:40:00.004+11:002017-11-17T17:40:51.707+11:00My Freedom Found<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My freedom found<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this one word<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like the tender thunder <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of the unfolded rose<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Breathing out my name<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In love.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My freedom found<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this one call<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Summoning to the edge<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Beyond my mapping<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Beyond my understanding<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Learning trust<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the silent halls of fear.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My freedom found<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this one hope<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blazing the horizon<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When my eyes are blind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Giving<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spectral glory<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To my tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My freedom found<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this one place,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this one service,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One gladness,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One transcendent truth,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One gladness that has turned all sorrow<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Inside out,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One life<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Forever.</span>Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10982043538182690871noreply@blogger.com0